State v. Reid
| Decision Date | 26 November 2002 |
| Citation | 91 S.W.3d 247 |
| Parties | STATE of Tennessee v. Paul Dennis REID, Jr. |
| Court | Tennessee Supreme Court |
Jeffrey A. DeVasher; C. Dawn Deaner; J. Michael Engle; and David Baker; Assistant Public Defenders, Nashville, Tennessee, for the Appellant, Paul Dennis Reid, Jr.
Paul G. Summers, Attorney General and Reporter; Michael E. Moore, Solicitor General; Jennifer L. Smith, Assistant Attorney General; Victor S. Johnson, III, District Attorney General; Kathy Morante, Tom Thurman, Roger Moore, Grady Moore, Assistant District Attorney Generals, for the Appellee, State of Tennessee.
FRANK F. DROWOTA, III, C.J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which E. RILEY ANDERSON, JANICE M. HOLDER, and WILLIAM M. BARKER, JJ., joined.
In this capital case, the defendant, Paul Dennis Reid, Jr., was convicted of two counts of first degree murder and one count of especially aggravated robbery for killing two Captain D's employees and robbing one of the employees. As to each conviction of first degree murder, the jury found in the sentencing hearing that the State had proven three aggravating circumstances beyond a reasonable doubt — (1) that the defendant was previously convicted of one or more felonies, other than the present charge, the statutory elements of which involve the use of violence to the person; (2) that the murder was committed for the purpose of avoiding, interfering with, or preventing a lawful arrest or prosecution of the defendant or another; and (3) that the murder was knowingly committed, solicited, directed, or aided by the defendant while the defendant had a substantial role in committing or attempting to commit, or was fleeing after having a substantial role in committing or attempting to commit robbery. Tenn.Code Ann. §. 39-13-204(i)(2), (6), and (7) (1997). Finding that these aggravating circumstances outweighed the mitigating circumstances beyond a reasonable doubt, the jury sentenced the defendant to death on each murder conviction. The trial court subsequently imposed a twenty-five-year sentence for the especially aggravated robbery conviction and ordered this sentence to be served consecutively to the two death sentences. On direct appeal to the Court of Criminal Appeals, the defendant mounted numerous challenges to both his convictions and sentences. After fully considering the defendant's claims, the Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the trial court's judgment. Thereafter, the case was docketed in this Court. See Tenn.Code Ann. § 39-13-206(a)(1) (1997). After carefully and fully reviewing the record and the relevant authority, the defendant's convictions and sentences are affirmed.
The proof offered by the State at the guilt phase of this trial demonstrated that on Sunday morning, February 16, 1997, sixteen-year-old Sarah Jackson and twenty-five-year-old Steve Hampton were shot and killed as they prepared to open the Captain D's restaurant on Lebanon Road in Donelson, Tennessee. Hampton was the manager of the restaurant; Jackson was a high school student working part-time at the restaurant. Kevin Blackwell, area director for Captain D's, spoke with Hampton on the telephone around 8:15 to 8:30 a.m. that morning. Over an hour later, around 9:45 to 10 a.m., Michael Butterworth arrived for work but was unable to enter the restaurant because the doors were locked. Butterworth telephoned the Captain D's from a neighboring restaurant and got a busy signal. When he called a second time a few minutes later, no one answered. Believing something was wrong, Butterworth contacted another Captain D's employee whose father was a Metro police officer. The employee's father, Officer Jeff Wells, arrived at the scene and, after the assistant manager of Captain D's unlocked the door, entered the restaurant between 11 a.m. and noon to find Hampton and Jackson dead, lying face down on the floor inside the restaurant's walk-in cooler.
The victims had been shot executionstyle while lying on the floor. Hampton had been shot twice in the back of the head and once in the back. Jackson had been shot four times in the head and once in the back. According to the medical examiner, two of Jackson's head wounds were fatal, but the two other head wounds were superficial, and the shot to her back was not immediately incapacitating. If these less serious wounds had been inflicted first, the medical examiner testified Jackson may have been able to move; and, in fact, a blood pattern of Jackson's gloved hand on shelving near, but above, her body indicated that Jackson had attempted to pull herself up from the floor after she was shot. The victims were shot with a .32 caliber weapon, probably a revolver. Seven thousand, one hundred forty dollars, including $250 in coins, was taken in the robbery. Hampton's wallet, which contained $600 that he intended to use to pay rent, also was missing.
The police first considered the defendant a suspect in this crime on June 12, 1997, after his arrest in Cheatham County for allegedly attempting to kidnap the manager of a Shoney's restaurant. From this arrest, the police obtained the defendant's fingerprints and photograph. Although none of the defendant's fingerprints were found at Captain D's, several items belonging to Steven Hampton were discovered one day after the murders lying alongside Ellington Parkway, a four-lane highway in East Nashville.1 Among the items found was a movie rental card belonging to Hampton. The defendant's right thumbprint was found on this card. The area where Hampton's belongings were found was 11.5 miles from the crime scene and 1.2 miles from the defendant's home.
Police also found several shoe prints inside Captain D's near the safe. Although the tread design of these shoe prints did not match, the length of these shoe prints was consistent with shoes seized from the defendant's residence. In addition, the State introduced into evidence a photograph, dated July 16, 1996, which showed the defendant wearing a pair of dingy white tennis shoes that police had not found in his residence.
Two witnesses identified the defendant as the man who came by Captain D's the night before the murders inquiring about a job. Michael Butterworth and Jason Carter testified that a man came into the restaurant through the exit door around 10 p.m., shortly before closing the night before the murders. This man said he was interested in applying for a part-time job and that he worked at Shoney's just down the road. The proof showed the defendant worked as a cook at a Shoney's 2.1 miles from these murders. Butterworth and Carter gave the man an employment application and told him that the manager, Steve Hampton, would be working the next day. When the man asked if anyone would be at the restaurant on Sunday morning, Carter told him that Hampton would be there but would be busy and unable to talk until approximately 2:45 p.m., after the Sunday lunch rush. Butterworth testified that the man left in a dark-colored car.
About a week after the murders, Butterworth, Carter, and James Cassidy, another employee who was present the night before the murders, helped police prepare a composite sketch of the man they had seen. The description they provided was consistent with the defendant in some respects, but the sketch did not include a mustache and it indicated that the man may have had long hair worn in a ponytail that was "pulled straight back." The defendant wore a mustache at this time and did not have a ponytail, although there was testimony that his hair had been below his collar at that time and that he combed his hair straight back.
After assisting with the composite, Carter and Butterworth looked at hundreds of police photographs but were unable to make an identification. In June of 1997 the police showed Butterworth and Carter a photographic lineup of six individuals, including the defendant. Although Butterworth was unable to make a positive identification, Carter positively identified the defendant as the man who had inquired about a job the night before the murders. A short time later, Butterworth saw the defendant during a television news report about his arrest. Butterworth immediately called the police and informed them that the defendant was the man who came into Captain D's the night before the murders. At trial, Butterworth explained that he was sure of this identification because the news report, as opposed to the photographic lineup, enabled him to hear the defendant's voice, see the way his lips moved when he talked, and see the way he walked. During trial, both Carter and Butterworth identified the defendant as the man who had come into the restaurant the Saturday night before Hampton and Jackson were killed.
Three other people who had been driving by the Captain D's restaurant on the morning of the murders testified, linking the defendant to the murders. Jerry Marlin, who was passing by the restaurant at approximately 8:45 a.m., saw a blue Ford station wagon with damage to the left front, and possibly to the left rear, "parked at a funny angle toward the rear of the building." The proof showed that prior to these murders, the defendant drove a light blue 1988 Ford Escort station wagon which had been involved in an auto accident in January of 1997. As a result, the car was appraised by an insurance company on February 3, 1997, and was found to have damage to the left front end. Marlin testified that the defendant's car in the insurance company's photographs was similar to the car he observed in the Captain D's parking lot the morning of the murders.
Around 8:50 a.m., Debbie Hines was driving...
To continue reading
Request your trial
- State v. Reid
-
State v. Rice
... ... Reid, 91 S.W.3d 247, 276 (Tenn.2002); see also Tenn. R.App. P. 13(e); Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979); State v. Hall, 8 S.W.3d 593, 599 (Tenn. 1999). Because a verdict of guilt removes the presumption of innocence and imposes a presumption of guilt, ... ...
-
State v. Miller
... ... Alley , 776 S.W.2d 506, 518 (Tenn. 1989) ; see also State v. Schmeiderer , 319 S.W.3d 607, 633 (Tenn. 2010) ; State v. Reid , 213 S.W.3d 792, 835-36 (Tenn. 2006) ; State v. Thomas , 158 S.W.3d 361, 378 (Tenn. 2005) ; State v. Austin , 87 S.W.3d 447, 473 (Tenn. 2002). However, upon review of relevant case law, it appears that some courts of this state have applied an abuse of discretion standard without referencing ... ...
-
State v. Cannon
... ... Virginia , 443 U.S. 307, 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979) ; see Tenn. R. App. P. 13(e) ; State v. Goodwin , 143 S.W.3d 771, 775 (Tenn. 2004) 642 S.W.3d 445 (citing State v. Reid , 91 S.W.3d 247, 276 (Tenn. 2002) ). This standard applies to findings of guilt based upon direct evidence, circumstantial evidence, or a combination of both direct and circumstantial evidence. State v. Pendergrass , 13 S.W.3d 389, 392-93 (Tenn. Crim. App. 1999) (citing State v. Dykes , 803 ... ...